Could she free his memories in addition to deciphering the book? Oh, to remember Axel and their parents...to know their lineage...to discover what they’d lost and why... William would have everything he’d ever wanted. Almost. He still had to find the tenth Hell crown.
* * *
His ears twitched as different noises seeped into the stable. If someone woke Sunny, that someone would die.
William flashed to the side of the bed, where he donned his leathers. After zipping up, he flashed outside. Two Sent Ones leaned against the stable wall, positioned between two of Sunny’s spikes, giving each other a little sexual CPR.
“While I’m certainly enjoying the show,” William said, soft but menacing, “your voices have the potential to wake my...girlfriend.”
The two broke apart, peering at him with wide eyes.
William had never met the pair, had never worked with them and had no idea about their battle savvy, but that didn’t stop him from snapping, “You wake her, you die. Spread the word.”
He didn’t wait for a response, just flashed into the stable. Once he’d stripped out of his leathers, removed his cell phone from his pocket and turned it to silent, he slipped under the covers, Sunny’s body heat and sweet scent enveloping him. Like a homecoming.
He imagined keeping her...forever. Waking up to her radiant smile every morning. Getting called on his shit always. Teasing her from her bad moods. Floundering when she said illogical things. Arguing, bargaining. Bantering. Making her blush with innuendos. Caring enough to stick around and work through any problems. Making love every night, taking her body to new sexual heights. Sounded like...paradise. A future he’d never dared to entertain. And still couldn’t. Yet.
Once he’d defeated Lucifer and found the tenth crown, William would become a king of the underworld. A king required a queen.
Sunny...my queen.
The idea appealed greatly.
A unicorn-shifter was an unlikely mate for a king of the underworld, yes. One was dark, one was light. One was (somewhat) good, the other (somewhat) evil. But, oh, the fun they’d have.
His cell phone vibrated, breaking into his musings. Careful not to disturb Sunny, he checked the screen.
Daddy Dearest: My apologies for missing the predinner battle. Return tomorrow night. We’ll chat about Axel. This time, bring the girl. I’d like to meet the woman Rathbone calls the new star of his spank bank.
First, Rathbone was an asshole. Second, William still dreaded introducing Sunny to his father. Hades had hated Gillian. Too weak, he’d said. Not the one for you, he’d added. What would he say about Sunny?
He texted back. We’ll be there. Now, do us both a solid and gird your loins. I have an announcement to make.
Several minutes passed before a response arrived.
William checked his balls. Yep, he still had them. Time to nut up and make his father see the truth. He typed another text. Ready? I love you. I will always love you. Getting to know Axel won’t change that.
There. Done. Now the wait—
Daddy Dearest: It will change. YOU will. This, I know beyond any doubt. Do not seek him out until we’ve spoken. Until then, think about what’s more important. The father who raised you, or the brother who forgot you.
William popped his jaw. So no declaration of love from dear old dad. All right, then. Of course, to his knowledge, Hades had never said those three little words to anyone.
Though disappointed, he turned his sights to his next order of business, opening a group text with his sons. He typed, I have another secret task for you. There are five unicorn-shifters out in the wild. One is named Sable. Find her. Don’t ask why, just do.
Black Attack: Why?
Red Abed: Whyyyyyy?
Green Machine: WHY, PAPA, WHY??????
Okay, his kids were assholes, too.
Green Machine: Aren’t unicorn-shifters extinct?
William: They are not. Search as quickly as inhumanly possible. Any leads on Evelina or Lilith?
Black Attack: Lucy has men searching for Evelina, and I overheard one mention a possible sighting in Listeria. I’ll be there within the hour. Nothing on Lilith.
Lucy—a hate-endearment for Lucifer. Listeria—a Hell realm named before the bacteria, known for its toxic atmosphere and criminal inhabitants.
Red Abed: I’m in the middle of an interrogation with the soldier Black overheard. If he knows anything more, I’ll know something more. Soon.
Red included a video with his text. In it, a seven-foot-tall demon was strapped to a rack, sobbing. The fiend had ivory horns and a forked tail. Each of his limbs were limp, the joints pulled out of their sockets. Blood and sweat poured from gray scales. His eyes had been removed, leaving two bloody sockets.
William: Keep up the good work. By the way. Hades is having a family dinner tomorrow night, and I’d like you to be there.
Not wanting to make his father’s mistake, he added, You’re shits, but I love you. That done, he set the phone aside and—
His gaze lit on Sunny’s diary. It was across the room, just sitting on the desk. His pulse quickened. She liked to write down her fantasies. A mistake—for her. He’d already decided to read every word. Why wait?
As sunlight replaced moonlight, illuminating the stable, William slipped from the bed and donned his leathers once again. Leaving Sunny’s soft, warm, world-changing body proved more difficult this time. But he did it, the chance of reward great. He padded to the desk to flip through the pages. Every passage but one was written in code—the passage written about him. The corners of his mouth quirked. She wants me to read this. What fresh torment did she have in store?
He scanned the words and discovered a list of fifteen sexual positions. Things he’d never heard of. The Brazilian cowboy. The topsy-turvy curvy-swervey. The snake-bake wrangler. Beside each position was a name. Lucien. Green. Rathbone. The men she wanted to practice with?
What the hell?
She goes too far! With the book in hand, William marched back to the bed. Along the way, he spied Dawn peeking out from under the bed. Shit. He needed to make provisions for her.
He paused long enough to create a doggy door, then walled off a section outside, adding grass. Inside, he conjured a food and water bowl, and
a handful of chew toys.
Dawn darted over, one head drinking, the other head eating.
That done, he finished his trek to the bed and shook Sunny awake. “Sunday Lane, you tell me what this is or there will be blood!”
She blinked open her eyes and gifted him with a slow, sleepy smile. “Good morning to you, too, babe.” The smile faded as her eyes cleared, and her jaw dropped. “It’s morning. I slept. I slept an entire night.”
Locks of pink hair tangled together as she stretched her glorious, lingerie-clad body. The sheet shifted, revealing most of her torso. Cool air drew her rosy nipples tight.
He tried to look away. He did. He stared instead, his shaft hardening. Shocker.
When she looked him over and licked her lips, he only grew harder.
“Answer me,” he snapped.
Still stretching, she said, “Sure. If you ask nicely.”
See! Calling me on my shit already. Deep breath in, out. “What are these sexual positions, and why did you write the names of other men? Let’s start with Rathbone. If I’m morally compromised, he’s morally corrupt. Did you know he has a harem stocked with a bevy of beauties? And I was there the day he staked his favorite concubine to a wall and made her watch as he secured her other lover to the dinner table, cut him open while he still lived and served his organs to demons.”
“What are you—” Her gaze dipped to the diary. She snickered. “You were a jerk to me, refusing to take me to Hades’s dinner, so I decided to punish you.”
Diabolical temptress. Relieved, he set the diary aside. “In that case, I’ll allow you to seduce me from my ire. After you show me your unicorn form.”
“No and no. But I give you permission to seduce me.”
He sat beside her, hip to hip, and slid a hand under her nape to lift her into an upright position. Those pink locks tumbled to her waist. Locks he fisted, trapping her face inches from his.